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A Lady in the Making by Medini Summer
- Print Length: 288 pages
- Publisher: Endeavour Press (November 30, 2015)
- Publication Date: November 30, 2015
Spoiler:
London, 1848.
Aloise’s mother succumbs to the cholera epidemic of the city.
Before passing she begs her daughter never to earn her living from the streets.
But with starvation looming, Aloise is forced to sell her body for bread.
From being the daughter of a seamstress of respectable parentage in Somerset, Aloise has become a lady of the night.
The streets of the Seven Dials are dangerously violent. Syd Black and his Blackamore cronie prey upon Aloise, attempting to force her into their employ.
Therefore when Frederick Tavistock, a gentleman client of Aloise, offers to buy her clothes befitting a lady, Aloise is instantly beguiled.
But once she has realised that Freddy's establishment is a glorified whorehouse for genteel clients, Aloise decides it’s time to take her future into her own hands.
After seeing an advertisement for emigrating to New Zealand, Aloise endeavours to secure a passage on a ship that will take her to Port of Lyttleton in the Canterbury settlement in New Zealand.
She attempts to hide the truth of her profession.
Snooty clerks and officials refuse her acceptance but she is determined to achieve her dream of becoming a lady.
Eventually, Caroline Chisholm, a philanthropist, adopts Aloise as a sound prospect for free passage.
Finally free of the filth of London, Aloise sets sail on the ‘Isabella Hercus’.
Who should she find on board but Lucius Thrimble, the former clerk of the Canterbury Association who recently opposed her passage?
He threatens to expose her secret life on the streets of the Dials and destroy her happy future.
Will Aloise be able to keep her unacceptable past hidden or will she be ostracised by all aboard the vessel?
Will she finally find peace in New Zealand or will misfortune follow her to new lands?
Will Aloise ever become a lady?